Hi PM, it must be very frustrating to have to listen to all that nonsense. Cholesterol appears to be immaterial unless you have low levels and you know it . Why worry about it ,surely there is no cholesterol police in Canada who can make you go on a low fat grainy diet (yak ) . this the guy who first opned my eyes. I just dont worry about it know.

Hey! New girl here! Started primal about 3 weeks ago. I'm not 100% but I try to make the best choices I can. I never thought I would be as sensitive to SAD food after I started this. I'm not complaining. Most of my cravings for bread and sweets is gone and feel like a new person.

I recently had blood work done and the doctor was concerned that my cholesterol is elevated. She asked me to meet with a diet educator to talk about ways to lower my cholesterol through diet. I met with the RN and she showed me the Canada Food Guide with lots of emphasis on "healthy whole grains".

It was a disappointing and frustrating meeting as the discussion was very one-sided. With no baseline to mark a trend they decided that paleo must be causing my cholesterol to go up even though I am losing weight from my belly. I managed to talk them into allowing me 3 months on the diet with no modifications before we do another blood test to get a trend line. If it's coming down then paleo is helping to bring it down and I will make no changes. If it is going up I may consider letting some foods go like *sob* bacon. We will do another test in 6 months as well. I have committed to eating more leafy greens and oily fish like salmon to raise my HDL cholesterol but at this time those are the only changes I am willing to make.

She also sent me for a test for celiac, I think she figures if it comes back negative she will have an argument for me to put grains back in my diet but I don't think she realizes that I am not willing to go back to a way of eating that made me fat and unwell in the first place. I am incredibly frustrated by the closemindedness of our health professionals but I am not particularly surprised by it either and that saddens me.

Has anyone else had their cholesterol go down while following paleo without taking out the usual suspects, (bacon, eggs and all natural fats) and if so approximately how long did it take? I have been eating paleo since mid-June and we have no idea what my cholesterol was like before I started. The last blood work I did was for mortgage insurance about six years ago and there was nothing unusual in the lipids at that time. My belief is that my diet from that time to this year caused my cholesterol to go up and that paleo is bringing it down but without a trend line I have no idea if that is true or not.

I am new here and also from Canada, Vancouver. The reason I started this diet was because the doctor read me the riot act when he saw my cholesterol/tryglicerides. He said no more sugars/breads. So I guess they are all at a different level of education on this. My husband also saw a drop- in doctor after a stomach episode after starting Paleo. What surprised us both was that she said she was also paleo and didn't believe that humans were meant to eat wheat and grains. LOL I don't know what my cholesterol will be now, will get it checked after 6 months. But I do know none of the doctors that I am likely to see will advocate the SAD diet. In less than 3 months I have just reached my goal weight and have lost 26lbs. feel much much better. My only concern is that I seem to react so quickly and severely to any added bad stuff to my diet. including eggs and dairy.

after 2 years of no grains, but not really primal, i had a cholesterol test last year, as part of an overall work-up. i eat plenty of fatty foods, red meat and dairy. with a non-fasted test, my overall number was 210, but my trigs were 60 and my ratio well below any kind of warning bell numbers.

that being said, i don't believe the hype that high cholesterol is a problem and more evidence is showing that higher numbers are safer for women as we age.

unless i had a genetic disorder that caused issues, i would NEVER take drugs for my cholesterol.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.